Armstrong family coping with mother's death

Shaina Armstrong sits in a walker in front of her father Stephan Armstrong and siblings Angela, Sammy Earl and Stephan Jr. Armstrong outside of their home on Wednesday. Rosa Lee Armstrong, Stephen's wife of 37 years and the siblings' mother, was killed after being struck in a parking lot on May 10.

Shaina Armstrong is trying to figure out how to move forward after her mother was killed in an incident that left her with a fractured back and put the woman she loved in jail.

“I’m in a lot of pain,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay strong for the family.”

The day she was released from the hospital, Armstrong, 22, talked about her girlfriend of several years, Candace Kiara Jackson, their relationship and the day that Jackson allegedly hit Shaina and her mother with an SUV in a Bank of America parking lot.

Armstrong frequently looked away as she talked. A few times she pressed the bandaging at her waist and mentioned she cannot sit for a long time because of her back. She wears a brace now, and thick patches of road rash, bruises and bandages mark her arms.

“I just feel like I’m in a dream,” she said.

May 10

Detectives believe that an argument that began on May 10 between Armstrong and Jackson, 24, continued later in the day and ended with Jackson driving an older model Chevrolet Suburban into Rosa Lee Armstrong, 56, and Shaina as they walked away from the Bank of America off U.S. 1 near Wildwood Drive.

Rosa Lee died at the scene.

Earlier in the day, Shaina left the mobile home she shared with Jackson. They had argued, she said. She went to her parents’ home at the Breezy Brae mobile home park on Wildwood Drive.

Her bank card was with Candace, so she wanted to cancel it and get a temporary one, she said. She walked up to the Bank of America with her father, mother and sister.

Shaina was in the bank when her father came in to tell her that Candace was outside.

Once Shaina walked outside, she went to the passenger side of the SUV and got into an argument with Candace, according to the arrest report. Shaina told Candace it was over and the family began to walk home. Moments later, they heard the SUV’s engine getting loud and saw Jackson driving toward them, the report said.

“The defendant’s vehicle then went over a curb in the parking lot and struck Shaina Armstrong and Rosa Armstrong, killing Rosa Armstrong and injuring Shaina Armstrong,” according to the report.

He went to his wife’s side, and when he saw she was dead, he closed her eyelids.

“That’s what I done,” he said. “And I told her I loved her.”

Jackson walked away with a baseball bat in her hand, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Several eyewitness followed her and called 911 and provided sworn testimony.

Detectives found Jackson near the Kangaroo gas station and took her in for questioning. Later, she was booked into St. Johns County jail on charges of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, attempted second-degree murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated battery, according to the Sheriff’s Office. During her first appearance in court, on a newscast from the jail, Jackson said it was an accident.

Afterward

Stephen and Rosa Lee Armstrong, or “Rosy,” met in first grade. They were married for 37 years.

“You couldn’t ask for a better wife,” he said.

Stephen sat next to a building in the middle of Breezy Brae mobile home park one evening last week. Two of his children stood nearby. She was the best mother in the world, one of her daughters repeated.

“All I remember seeing is my wife being drug under the SUV,” he said.

She was a native of Bartow and had lived in St. Augustine since 1992. She was a homemaker.

Rosa Lee was a good woman, Shaina said. She was always there for her. She loved her animals, especially her dogs. She loved everybody.

Shaina Armstrong and Candace Jackson met around seven years ago. Jackson was the second girlfriend she had ever had, she said. They shared a trailer together.

Jackson had recently talked about getting married.

“We loved each other,” Armstrong said. “We wanted to stay together. We wanted to have kids.”

There had been arguments and violence in the relationship before, Shaina said.

In November, Jackson was arrested on charges of domestic battery by strangulation and domestic battery. Jackson was accused of hitting and choking Armstrong, according to the arrest report. Armstrong told a deputy that she fought back to try and get away. Jackson denied wrongdoing.

Armstrong said she bailed Jackson out of jail.

“I kind of felt like it was my fault,” Armstrong said, because she believed she provoked Jackson. They separated for about a week until Armstrong requested that the court lift a no contact order so they could be back together, she said.

The domestic battery by strangulation charge was dropped, and Jackson was eventually adjudicated guilty of an amended charge of simple battery.

“I just want [people] to know if there’s any signs of any violence, get out,” she said.

Recovering

When Shaina spoke about what happened, one of the first things she mentioned was finding a way to give her mother a proper burial. Her family can not afford funeral services.

Later, a local funeral home director offered to pay for cremation. The family wants to extend their gratitude.

Her mother was on Social Security and her father does not work. She has autistic siblings. Shaina is employed at the Flying J but she does not have insurance covering any of her medical expenses.

After the incident, Shaina was left to stay with her family, several people in one trailer. She was not able to get back into the trailer she shared with Candace because it was in Candace’s name, and she has not been able to retrieve her belongings, she said. She signed the trailer over at one point because she thought she was done with the relationship. She wasn’t.

Someday, Shaina Armstrong wants to go back to school to become a nursing assistant. She wants to work with autistic children.

First, though, she has to be strong for her family, to help support them. She has to heal.

She said she never thought her girlfriend, the woman she loved, would be capable of what she is accused of.

“I don’t understand,” Shaina said. “I just don’t understand.”

■

Shaina Armstrong is reaching out to the community for help with medical expenses and for support for her family. Anyone who wants to help can call the family’s home phone number at 342-7729.

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Most of the comments above are despicable. These are grieving HUMAN BEINGS!!!!! Are they not attractive enough or smart enough, not well spoken or financially stable enough for your liking? Hey, I have a good idea, why don 't I write the newspaper and mock and humiliate them. Oh yeah, let's include several anti -gay and racist innuendos. God Bless this devastated family. God help the haters.

that ended terribly wrong. These kind of stories are tragic. However, it should be an example to other battered spouses, girl/boy friend incidences of abuse. You MUST leave. They WILL NOT change. She should have stayed away the first time. This in no way takes responsibility away from the abuser. For others who are abused and read this story, TAKE ACTION and move yourself away from the situation. God bless the funeral home director. It was a very generous thing to offer. The story of Shaina Armstrong not having insurance and not being able to pay for medical treatment is all too common a dilemma. Hopefully she will find people in the system who can help guide her to the assistance she needs.